


Santa Claus is coming to town

by bea_weasley



Series: OTP Advent Calendar [22]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Christmas Fluff, F/M, OTP Advent Calendar, pictures with santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28237902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bea_weasley/pseuds/bea_weasley
Summary: Harry was a grown up, he didn’t want to take a picture with Santa, even if Hermione was insisting
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Series: OTP Advent Calendar [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032237
Kudos: 14





	Santa Claus is coming to town

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last Hermione/Harry of this series, hope you have enjoyed the others too 
> 
> Based on this prompt: “I’m a grown adult. I don’t want to take a picture with Santa Claus.”

**_Santa Claus is coming to town_ ** ****

* * *

“I’m a grown adult. I don’t want to take a picture with Santa Claus,” Harry Potter said to his best friend while they were finishing their last-minute shopping at the mall.

“C’mon, Harry! It’s  _ tradition _ !” Hermione Granger countered, dragging him towards the line, seeing that it wasn’t too long. “This is how we met, remember?”

“How can I forget? My mum still keeps that horrible picture in our hallway, and I have to see it every time I go to visit them.” Harry shuddered, thinking about the terror he had felt meeting that creepy Santa all those years ago.

“I don’t care how much you hate that picture — I loved it,” Hermione said with a smile, reminiscing about that day. “And even if you say that you hate it, why do you still take a picture with Santa every year?”

“Because my mum forces me, and if I don’t take a picture with Santa, Sirius will start to yell and cry and say that I've destroyed Christmas or something like that,” Harry said, rolling his eyes over his godfather’s antics. “Why do you take a picture with Santa every year?”

“Because it’s a tradition for my family, and I like taking pictures with Santa.” Hermione shrugged in response. “Don’t you like to spend time reliving your Christmas memories from when you were little?”

“How can you be reliving your memories of just standing in a line, surrounded by screaming babies and their parents?” Harry asked, concerned for his best friend's mental well-being. “Hermione, are you all right? You don’t look so good.”

Hermione laughed at Harry as she batted his hands away — he was trying to measure her temperature for Christ’s sake! — and took his hand in hers and looked at him.

“Harry, I know that you were afraid of Santa for almost your whole life, but for  _ me, _ it was the most wonderful time of the year because my parents weren’t too busy at their dental practice, and they could spend time with me, and taking a picture with Santa was part of that.”

Harry had never stopped to think about what the pictures meant to Hermione; he had just assumed that it was just something they could laugh about later, but now, he regretted everything he had said while they waited in the fast-moving queue.

“I’m sorry, ‘Mione, I never knew that was how you felt about the picture,” Harry said, putting his arms around her to bring her closer to his chest, and he felt that it was right. Like it was what they were supposed to be doing.

“It’s not just the picture, Harry. It's  _ everything _ , you know?” Hermione said, looking at him. “It’s the excitement of the children as they meet Santa; it’s the way their parents calm them down before they sit with Santa, and I don’t know… This gets to me, you know? I love the ‘ _ Christmassy _ ’ feeling in the air.”

Harry chuckled as Hermione's eyes sparkled and she  _ shone _ from the inside out, and he thought it was a good look on her. While they talked, the line to meet Santa moved faster than Harry would have liked, but he was determined to keep his opinions to himself now. They were soon at the front of the line, and Hermione went first; she was the only one actually enjoying what they were doing, but Harry wasn't excused from taking a picture.

“Ho-ho-ho, what brings you here, young man?” Santa asked Harry the moment he had sat down next to him.

“My best friend and I met here many years ago, and we decided to continue the tradition of taking pictures with you — even if I’m a grown man and don’t want to,” Harry said, looking at Hermione beaming at him outside of the line.

“And why do you keep coming here if you don’t want to?” Santa asked, looking at Harry with a twinkle in his eyes. “It couldn’t have been just to see me — even if I’m pretty great myself.”

Harry couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped him at Santa's cheekiness. “I don’t know why; I know I just want to make her happy. She deserves it — she's the most wonderful girl I know, and I just want her to have all the happiness in the world.”

“I think you have the key to make your wish come true; you just need to look inside you and say what you already know,” Santa said with that same twinkle in his eyes, and something clicked inside Harry’s brain. “How about we take that picture now?”

Harry smiled for the photograph before he thanked Santa for the advice and went to meet Hermione. Without hesitation, he took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it? I bet you enjoyed it; I saw you talking to Santa, and you looked very focused on your conversation.” Hermione was trying to get Harry to tell her what they had been talking about, but Harry looked to be miles away. “Harry?”

“Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Santa just gave me something to think about, and I just realized that I've been thinking about it long before he had pointed it out to me,” Harry said, looking at their entwined hands and then, at Hermione’s smile and her concerned eyes. How could he have been blind for so long? “Do you have time to get a coffee now, or do you still have some things to buy?”

“I’ve finished all of my shopping, so I’m free now,” Hermione said, smiling like Harry had an inkling she would. “What do you have in mind?”

“I think we should start with a coffee and then go for dinner tomorrow and see what happens from there,” Harry said, frowning when he saw Hermione’s wide eyes. “Is everything okay, ‘Mione?”

“What are you trying to say, Harry? I don’t think I understand,” Hermione said, trying to gather her thoughts.

“I’m saying that after talking a little with Santa, he has opened my eyes to what was right in front of me, but since I wanted to do things right, I’m taking you for a coffee now and dinner tomorrow,” Harry said assertively. “Do you think that's too much? I can wait if that’s what you want.”

“No, it’s fine! I've just... been dreaming about this for some time now, and I’m glad that it was Santa who made you realize it,” Hermione said with a shy smile, tugging Harry in the direction of the coffee shop.

Harry let her drag him, grateful that he had taken the picture with Santa; he may have been resistant at first, but he was happy that he had done it. And who knows? Maybe in the future, Hermione and his children would meet  _ their _ best friend in the line that brought their parents together.


End file.
